Best Job in the World Shortlisted

Tourism Queensland in Australia has named the fifty finalists in their “Best Job in the World” campaign, shortlisting from a pool of nearly 35,000 applicants for a $150,000 AUD contract to relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef from July 1 to December 31, 2009.

The job of blogging caretaker will go to an applicant chosen from the winner of the most wildcard votes between now and March 24, and ten other applicants chosen by Tourism Queensland. The name of the winning job applicant will be announced on May 6.

Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said staffers had a tough time sifting through the 34,684 entries and selecting the best of the best.

“I understand it was a robust discussion, but what it boiled down to was the motivation and professionalism of the applicants and their fit with the job and Tourism Queensland,” Boyle said.

The job is part of a AU$1.7 million campaign to publicize the charms of northeastern Queensland state, and tourism officials say it has already generated more than AU$70 million worth of publicity for the region.

Rhiannon Craig, new on the staff at CumminsNitro, appeared in a fake video designed to drum up applications. After the video was revealed to be fake, including a fake tattoo, the YouTube video was taken offline by Tourism Queensland.

While the 50 applicants shortlisted for the Tourism Queensland’s “Best Job in the World” deserve to be congratulated, those chosen continue to highlight the failings present in this rather cynical marketing campaign. Interestingly, 35 of these shortlisted videos are longer than 60 seconds when in the closing days of the competition as many as 5000 videos were rejected for exceeding 60 seconds. Many were actually shorter than 60 seconds or were between 60 and 61 seconds, but Tourism Queensland simply passed it off as a glitch in their content management system.

People with videos under 61 seconds who were rejected are invited to post their video.

I love it when individuals come together and share views. Great blog, continue the good work!

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